To meet the demands of the multimedia age, recent recording/reproducing devices generally have: a DVD device capable of handling a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) which is a storage medium for large volume data; and a hard disk device (HDD: Hard Disc Drive) which is a device with a large storage capacity available at a low price.
In the DVD device, a pickup for an optical disc uses a red semiconductor laser whose wavelength is in 650 nm band. The storage capacity of typical DVD is 4.7 giga bytes (GB).
Meanwhile, as a next generation optical disc having a larger data storage capacity than a DVD, a blue-ray disc (Blue-ray Disc®; hereinafter, BD) and a HD DVD (High Definition DVD) are recently introduced, each of which uses a blue light source whose wavelength is in 400 nm band.
For example, there are following three standardized storage capacities for single-side single-layer BDs: 23.3 GB, 25 GB, and 27 GB. For HD DVD, there is a single-side single-layer HD DVD having a storage capacity of 15 GB, and an HD DVD of 20 GB is being discussed. Both of the above discs have a storage capacity of 15 GB or more. Thus, for example, a single BD is capable of storing therein the entire two-hours long Hi-vision broadcast. The performance of these discs are therefore excellent to fit in the new age of Hi-vision broadcasting (See Patent Citation 3 for example).
For compatibility with BDs and HD DVDs in addition to already-existing compact discs (CDs) and DVDs, suggested is an optical disc device provided with a laser light source of the following three wavelengths: a long wavelength (for CDs), a medium wavelength (for DVDS), and a short wavelength (for BDs and HD DVDs) (See Patent Citation 2 for example). In such an optical disc device, a pickup supporting the above-mentioned three wavelengths is provided. With this arrangement, only a single drive is required and the space can be reduced.    (Patent Citation 1) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 288771/2003 (Tokukai 2003-288771; Published on Oct. 10, 2003)    (Patent Citation 2) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 103135/2004 (Tokukai 2004-103135; Published on Apr. 2, 2004)    (Patent Citation 3) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 192801/2004 (Tokukai 2004-192801; Published on Jul. 8, 2004)
However, even though the space-saving is possible in the optical disc device of Patent Citation 2, the optical disc device only has a single disc inserting slot, which means that the optical disc can drive only one disc. Therefore, insertion/ejection of a disc and internal processing accompanied therewith at a time of dubbing or the like is complicated. This is not necessarily advantageous in terms of user-friendliness. There is a recording/reproducing device provided with two or more disc devices in addition to a BD drive, as is disclosed in Patent Citation 1; however, there is no description regarding operation states of such a recording/reproducing device. Further, in the device of Patent Citation 2, the operation states of disc devices are separately indicated mainly in the form of text information on the display regions nearby the disc devices, respectively. Thus, for example, in a case where three or more kinds of recording/reproducing sections are provided inside a recording/reproducing device, it has been extremely difficult for a user to confirm at a glance the current state of a joint operation performed by a recording section and a reproducing section.
In a case of a DVD or a BD, when a user turns on an intended device and starts a recording, it takes approximately 15 to 20 seconds before the actual start of writing in signals in a disc storage medium. Once the disc storage medium is taken out, It takes a double of this time before the preparation of the recording is completed again. This caused demand for improvement in the user-friendliness. For this reason, in an apparatus having a recording/reproducing device with plural recording or reproducing sections, demanded is a recording/reproducing device having display means which allows the user to confirm at a glance the current working state of each recording/reproducing section, thereby improving the operationality of the recording/reproducing sections.
The following explains the Patent Citation 1 more specifically. The Patent Citation 1 discloses a “twin deck type” audio apparatus for use in reproducing/recording data in/from a disc. The apparatus adopts a dual-tray method which uses a read-only drive and a write-only drive. The apparatus further includes a single display section which allows a user to visually confirm a recording state.
In the structure of Patent Citation 1, the display section shows the following information to the user: read-operation information indicating the operation state of the read-only drive; and write-operation information indicating the operation state of the write-only drive.
However, with a single display section for displaying the both information items, it is difficult for a user to confirm at a glance whether the information displayed is the recording-operation information or the reproduction-operation information.
An object of the present invention is to provide a recording/reproducing device having plural drivers, which device is more convenient than a conventional recording/reproducing device.